Lone Ork
by NuclearCorpus
Summary: A squad of Orks are lost on a space hulk. As they fight their way though a few of the twisting buildings, they run into a gene stealer. They fight it, killing it eventually, but there is a lone survivor. A single Ork. As he hears other gene stealers, he flees, hoping to be able to fight another day. He must make it back to his squad when they grow back.


We walked into a massive room and, immediately from the symbols, I could tell what kind of room this was. It was an old medical bay from a millennia-old ship. The steel beds were bolted to the ground as lights hung above yet, right by every bed, was a wall covered in small locked doors that held long-dead people and their remaining bones. The height of three locked doors was practically the height of the room and the width of fifty was practically the width. The room was completely destroyed, the wiring of the lights hung down as the bulbs flickered. Holes in the ceiling punctured into different rooms that shone light through. Some of the locker doors were off their hinges, revealing cracked skulls and gaping mouths, sockets that looked out without eyes. The lights caused massive shadows off of the steel beds and the entirety of the room made me feel strange. An unnatural, alien weight was pressing down on my shoulders; it was like a thousand things were looking down on me like I was disrespecting a graveyard.

I kept my gun close to me and felt for the trigger with my meaty finger, it made me feel safe. I walked through the center, keeping the steel beds on either side of me. A skeleton lay on one of them, dressed in Imperial Guard armor. A long slice ran down one side of his chest plate. I took a step towards it and, with two fingers, peeled the hole wider. Alongside his rib, there was a large crack as if a claw had ripped parts of his bones out. I shuddered and pulled my fingers away, grasping the barrel of my gun again and walked back to the center of the room. I shuddered for a moment until I heard one of my teammates call me.

"Oi! Mugrot! Wun o' us saw bugs comin' our way, weeb godda per-pare fer a bitty baddle. Donz worry, we'll cumz owt on top." I looked over at him and he gave a tusked grin, nodding at me.

I shouted back. "Awright, Braincooka! let'z git ter sum cova den an per-pare fer theyz bugs!" Quickly, I ran over to one of the walls and grabbed one of the locker doors. Slowly, I peeled it open and crouched behind it. I put the barrel of my gun on top of it and aimed forward.

Everyone else scattered, I didn't really know their names. One followed what I did. He went to the other wall, peeled open three locker doors and stood behind his makeshift blockade. Six of them jumped on the steel beds and stood there, aiming their guns at any opening they saw. One went under the steel beds, lying along the bars, aiming his gun at the openings. Then, Braincooka, he stood in the middle of the room, between the two lines of beds. He held his gun in one hand as he scratched his back and chest with his other hand.

I wondered why he wouldn't care, I always felt terrified whenever they came. Braincooka, however, never cared. The Imperium could exterminate his entire homeworld and he would just grunt and ask when grub was going to be served.

The clicking of their legs echoed through the medical bay. The metal tapped like firing a machine gun as the bugs crawled towards us. In my ear, it sounded like something was ringing a bell as what sounded like a group of them came towards us. It sounded like they were inside the walls, from everywhere. The sounds seemed to come from everywhere as the clicking bounced off of the walls.

One skittered through the door as the lights blinked out. It took a moment for anyone to see it and, when they did, everyone yanked back on the trigger. When the lights came back on, we didn't need them as the room was lit up by our guns. Bullets collided with the walls and the din made my ears scream. The black, armor on its body and legs glinted in the muzzle flashes but it's disgusting purple flesh didn't as a tongue ran along its teeth. A bullet strayed past one of its multiple limbs, sprouting from its back. Another cut along the three claws that it had on those limbs, punching a piece of the sharp edge out of them. The bug ran forward, towards Braincooka and, as my squad turned, bullets flew at the creature but, the ones on the steel table, shot at each other. Bullets sliced through their bodies and heads as each of them fell one by one. The one on the back wall was hit by the stray bullets and smacked into the shelves, cracking his head on a skeleton's behind him. His body poured out dark crimson until he fell, laying his back on the shelves. His head fell back on the shelve.

Braincooka was held upwards by the creature and one of its limbs came in front and a single claw traced around Braincooka's waist. The claw, paused for a second, frozen before plunging inside and, with clunky movements, pulled the claw upwards. The creature dug into Braincooka, using its other claws as leverage, dragging the wound higher and higher. His guts fell onto the floor as he spasmed, dropping his gun to the floor. The last remainder of our squad, under the steel table, turned his gun and fired at the bug's legs. The bullets flew and cut along the ankles, slicing upon the purplish flesh. The creature, quickly, ripped the claw upwards, spilling the remainder of Braincooka's guts on the floor before dropping him and flying under the steel table. The creature grabbed a hold of the other ork and pulled him out from under the steel table, holding him up like a baby in the center of the the light bulbs flickered at their brightest.

The creature was fully illuminated. Holes riddled its black and purple flash, streams of black liquid poured out from them. The white eyes seemed distant and trembling. It staggered, trying to hold itself on wobbling hind legs. It threw the last ork to the ground, his face landing in Braincooka's entrails. He tried to lift his head but the bug placed his clawed foot on the back of his head and stomped forward, putting all his weight down. The ork's head cracked and turned to a mush. The blood pooled and, for a short time, I could see the different shades of crimson but it slowly mixed together into a dark crimson. The creature roared, throwing its four arms to the side and basking in the light of the medical bay.

It turned to me and, for a second, tried to move forward. It fell, tripping over its own legs, with a sickening crack coming from its head as it hit the floor. It lay there, spread out on the floor and, for a moment, I felt victorious. The clicking of the metal. There was hundreds more waiting around the corner. Feeling my instinct take the better of me, I turned to the locker behind me and pulled the bed out. I stuffed my legs in, threw my gun on my legs and lay flat. I fit and had room to move my arms. I pulled myself back, using the walls to push my hands off and grabbed the locker door, pulling it to me. A bullet hole met my eye and I could see out. Holding my face against the door, I looked out and I could see the dead bodies lining the steel beds, the two corpses on the floor and the dead ork with his back to the locker doors. A skeleton lay just above his head, the jaw on one of the same beds I was on. The sockets looked out and it seemed to smile. I shook it off.

The dead ork had his gun across his ankles and, as the clicking got louder, his hand moved to grip. He opened a blood-stained eye and lifted his hand. With a shaking arm, he put the barrel on the first locker door beside him and, with the same arm, he pushed the second door open so he could see the entrance. I wanted to burst open my locker door and die alongside him but I didn't, I hid in my hole.

The bugs entered the room, filling it. He opened fire, screaming the entire time. As the first bullets smacked against the walls and ceiling, as the bugs crawled over the walls, as bugs crawled over my hiding place, he screamed and bellowed.

"Mi name iz Snatgrug, an, fer as lon'z meeb shoot, an ork will membur mi name! Meeb be Snatgrug an, meeb will be remembereded as a bug slayur!"

He kept shouting that but Snatgrug didn't shout for too long as one bug grabbed him before he could finish the last sentence and ripped his head off. His spasming corpse kept his finger on the trigger until, as the head tore from his body and crimson poured down, the gun fell apart. The barrel fell apart, falling to the floor in two tube pieces, cogs and parts scattered onto the floor with a metallic din. The other parts fell from his hand, the magazine and bits of metal until all that was left in his gripping hand was the handle and trigger. As the bug let him go, he landed in the mess of pieces on the floor and his fingers unfurled, dropping the parts onto the floor.

The bugs grabbed the corpses they could and dragged them out of the medical bay. Probably to eat them. The lights flickered off and the room went dark. I waited for them to come back on, as I listened to the clicking racket from a few ships away. The lights took longer than the clicking took to stop before they lit up the room again. The white room was coated in dark crimson drag marks, splatters and bullet holes. I turned, looking at all the lockers. One of the open lockers had a human skeleton in it and a bullet hole landed squarely in the center of the skull.

I knew the spores would culture a new squad of orks in no time. There was only me around and that wasn't enough orks to slow the production. If anything, I thought it would speed up the production. I strutted around, imagining the spores latching to the walls. As I walked around the room, clutching my gun, I felt something. In the distance, I heard the clicking again. It was fast and loud, the bugs didn't care about not being discovered. My brain lit up with panic, I thought they must have heard me. I ran quickly to the other end of the bay, looking for another exit. As I ran to the other end of the medical bay, I found a window. Looking out, I saw the cockpit of a ship. Buried between two large chunks of crushed metal, I could see a bright window. A skeleton with a hole the size of a fist in the side of its head lay over the control panel like it was bracing for impact. It was tilted, making the jump even more difficult but I thought I could make it.

I put my back against the window, aiming towards the first entrance. The sounds didn't go away, they kept coming closer. I took a breath and turned. I aimed at the window and squeezed the trigger. A group of bullets flew out and smashed through the window. Two large cracks appeared in the cockpit window. For a moment, I stared at the distance but the sound of the bugs kept coming back to me. Slowly letting out my breath, I jumped. I gripped my gun and held it tightly as I crashed through the cockpit window, smacking my back against the control panel. I hid underneath the broken window, holding my head just below the pane. I could hear the bugs enter the room and rip off every locker door, throwing them around the room. They crashed against steel tables, walls, and ceilings. It grew quiet as what I thought was the last locker door was thrown. The bugs waited for a moment before running down another entrance. Waiting, I held my weapon to my chest, waiting for them to come back.

When I couldn't hear them anymore, I slowly got up and straightened myself out. I had to use my hands and climb up the floor as if I was climbing a steep hill. The room was filled with control panels and machinery, all of the screens were dead or cracked. Three doors were in between the massive parts of the machine. Leaning towards one of the control panels, I saw that every button had strange markings above them, all of which seemed to have strange additions. One simply didn't have words but a symbol. A group of missiles. For a second, I was tempted to push the button to see what it did. I held my finger above the button, scratching the button with my nail. I pulled away my finger and felt a small sting in my head, followed by a rush of guilt. Holding onto the panel, I moved my feet away from the panel and went to push one of the doors open. Placing my feet on one of the control panels, I tried to open the door. It felt like it was welded shut. Looking over at the nearest wall, there was a strange selection of buttons. I brought my fist back and smashed my fist against the buttons. The door shuddered, like it was broken, before rumbling along the track. A small opening was forced open. I grabbed the edge of the door and pushed it along the railing, scratching along the railing as it sounded off like nails along metal. Throwing the door open, I squeezed through the doorway. The door smacked against the inside of the wall, ringing like a dull bell.

I looked out over the dark room, seeing nothing but the glints off of metals within the darkness. Slowly, my eyes adjusted and cannons came to view. I stood upon a catwalk, below there were thousands of unfired rounds inside large steel boxes, spent casing littered the floor yet they were dwarfed by the cannons that lined the were along the walls, dotting the walls like spots. As my eyes adjusted further, I could see white skeletons littering the steel boxes. They were everywhere, they were sitting against walls, some were against the steel boxes, and a few sat on the edge of the cannons. Slowly, I climbed along the catwalk, keeping my gun close to me. I dug my fingers into holes in the catwalk, keeping my grip. A skeleton lay along the catwalk and, slowly, with the barrel of my gun, I pushed it off of the catwalk. The skeleton crashed against the floor, the bones breaking against the floor. As I stared below the catwalk, the skeleton's jaw opened. I froze as the sounds echoed throughout the room. The din slowly silenced as it died down. For a moment, I froze, gripping my gun tightly. There was silence. No clicking of bugs. I continued along the catwalk, carefully aiming down towards the floor. A skeleton flew across the left side of the room before smacking into a cannon, the bones cracking into pieces. Quickly, I threw myself down onto the catwalk, keeping my back down, holding onto the metal for dear life.

A heavy bellow sounded from the darkness. It was a heavy scream. I couldn't tell what it meant but it didn't matter as the room was lit up with a muzzle flash. The heavy boom sounded from the other side of the room, a projectile flew until it exploded with another bout of flame. The round slammed into a random cannon. The round dug into the metal before exploding, it threw metal around. I felt sharp pieces of metal smack against the bottom of the catwalk, sounding like shrapnel exploding out of a grenade.

Breathing out, I pushed my face against the catwalk metal. The bellow came again, an echo of metal smacking against metal, and another scream. All of it was in anger. I couldn't understand it but I felt the creature's pain.

Slowly, I started to crawl along the catwalk, as more rounds dug into the walls and ceiling, sending red hot pieces of metal flying around the room. I paused, holding my breath, every time the hot shrapnel dug into the catwalk or a nearby skeleton as I imagined it digging into me. Crawling along the catwalk, another rageful bellow occurred and a skeleton was thrown against the wall. It was right below me.

The anger-filled creature was screaming and crying just below me. Slowly, I placed down my weapon and, with a steady hand, pulled my body along the metal floor. I held my jaw over the side to see what the creature was doing. I kept my breathing low and quiet but the fear in my lungs made me want to suck in as much as I could as the fear touched my fingers, making them tremble.

The creature was human but not. Rotting flesh fell from its face, revealing red muscle and white bone. Its hair was in strands and light crimson crept from unseen holes. It poured out onto his green armor, that was corroded and broken. The once-proudly-painted, bold armor was now a rusted yellow, covered in brown scratches and wounds in the metal. The armor was cracked and seething as if it was decaying like flesh. The creature raised a broken metal boot and stomped down on the floor, bellowing again. I looked over to where it was staring. A creature, similar to the first, lay against the wall. Its armor punctured with holes that poured deep crimson out of them like a hose. The creature was dead, its eyes closed and unmoving. Its weapon lay at its feet. The first creature screamed again, kicking the wall next to the dead corpse.

I wondered for a moment, staring down at it. The creature banged against the nearby wall with its fist, a heavy clashing of metal against metal. He turned, falling against the wall until he slid down it and sat there. The creature was crying except its tears were crimson. I moved my hands back to the catwalk and dragged myself along. The screaming was muffled, he shouted into his hands. I reached the door and I put my back against it, holding my feet against the catwalk. With a hand, I reached upwards and smacked the buttons. The door shuddered open and I grabbed the door frame, pulling myself upwards along the floor. The door rumbled shut as I looked around the room.

It looked like a bunk room yet it was shredded into pieces by a smaller ship, the ship must have skewered the first because, instead of a bunk room, I was staring into a long hall through a small wound alongside the ship. I aimed at the metal, hoping that the creature in the other room wouldn't hear the din. As I pulled the trigger back, imagining the mechanisms about to cycle a round, I thought of the ork. The ork that, on death, his weapon broke apart. Broke apart revealing nothing but a selection of cogs, bits of metal and trigger mechanisms, nothing that worked as a gun. As a bullet flew through the air, I thought about the impossibility of it all, how the weapon in my hands shouldn't be able to work. I thought of every possibility of how it should work but it couldn't. Cogs that large had no place in a gun. As bullets flew through the air, I could feel my mind crease with an ache as it all settled into my brain. Holes appeared in the metal as I thought of the entire impossibility of my weapon. I could feel the weapon shudder with every thought of its impossibility crossing my mind. As the metal fell away, as my bullets ripped through it, my gun started to shed. The tubular metal fell away from the barrel as the cogs fell from the inside. Rods clattered to the floor and the magazine fell to the ground. It all dropped from my hands, leaving me clutching the handle and trigger. As the metal entrance, I had made fell towards me, I threw the handle against the wall. It cracked, throwing metal pieces around the room. I walked up the ramp, rubbing my knuckles in my hands as I went. I felt powerless as I stood on the new floor without a weapon. I was raised on a gridded floor as short flights of metal stairs led to a tiled, blue and white floor. It looked as if it once shined yet it was covered in dust and debris.

Looking up at the ceiling, I saw it was covered in metal stars. It looked like metal structural beams crisscrossed on the ceiling, meeting to form a web of stars along the ceiling. At each elongated point in the star, columns rose up from the ground to meet them. Looking over at the column closed to me, I saw shallow grooves running upwards to the ceiling cut into the columns. Along the walls, there were large screens, with dials and control panels with chairs laid out carefully in front of everyone. Doors littered the walls like screws. Skeletons scattered around, many in these chairs as their skulls were broken at the forehead, their jaws hung open as if they were silently screaming. Taking a step towards one of the columns, I looked closer and saw what was engraved into it. Vertically, there was the story of battles being told through carefully engraved metal. Space marines fighting bugs, crushing necrons and riding ships into others to destroy them. I wondered about them, imagining the name of the immortalized marines to be called.

As I though harder, a fat creature flew past me. Spinning around, I turned to stare at it in horror. It was a fat, fair-skinned thing with white, feathered wings. It wore a single red goggle over one of its eyes. For a second, I didn't recognize it but, as time stretched on as it danced around, I recognized it. It was the smaller version of a human. It was the larvae of one. At the time, my mind cycled with ideas, the most common was that human larvae couldn't be living on a space hulk with no humans around. More of them joined each other, coming out of nooks and crannies I couldn't see. There was ten of them by the time they had finished flying out of their hiding places. They formed at the height of the star-dotted ceiling and, linking arms, they joined together as a group. They opened their mouths and their mouths moved to the rhythm of a song. Their voices were maddening gasps as they screeched like metal cords being run through a wound. Throwing my hands to my ears, I shouted for them to stop. They continued, their voices reaching higher pitches with their harsh wheezing for air. The wheezes followed the beat of a song I had never heard as it grated on my ears and pierced my head with its jarring melody.

The fat creatures started to swing, flying around the room. It was as if they couldn't see me. As they swooped around the dead skeletons, one even taking a perch on top of a chair as it sang its demented carol, I started to walk away. One swooped down, landing on a nearby wall. My brain snapped into a reflex, I reached out with a hand and grabbed the flying larvae. My fingers gripped around the creature's head and, staring into its red lense and open eye, I paused as it continued to sing it's grating song. With an open blue eye, it stared up at me with a strange misunderstanding. For that moment, I wondered what it thought of me. As the strange hymn continued in the background, I stared into the eye of the human larvae and wondered what it was going to do. At that moment, it opened it's mouth and screamed a high-pitch, deafening sound. It was like having a cannon go off by your ear. Quickly, I spun and slammed the head into a nearby wall. Blood soaked my hands as the sound stopped, the crimson seeping down my fingers. I froze for a second, letting out a long breath. I looked around and the other flying larvae didn't mind, they were blind to their other's pain. There was still one sitting on a chair, ruffling the invisible hair of a long-dead human.

I grunted, looking around the room. A large metal door was bolted by a large screen, a strange pair of goggles were fixed into the wall. For a moment, I waited, wondering about the device. Slowly, I recalled a time. Humans used it for opening doors, using it as a lock with their eyes as the key. I thought about placing my eyes in the goggles but changed my mind quickly, imagining what it would do if it saw an ork staring into it. I slowly wandered over to a nearby chair, careful to dodge the fat creatures flying overhead. Nearing the arm of the chair, I grasped the jaw of the skull in one hand, twisting it to look at me.

Around the eye socket, there was strange markings. It looked like the writing that was on the control panels, the language the humans speak. Placing my other hand on the boney neck, I twisted, feeling the interlocking pieces crackle under my crushing fingers. The skull soon came off in my hands and I held it in my arms as I walked back over towards the goggles. Carefully, I placed the eye sockets into the device and watched with curiosity as the machine churned to life. The device seemed to sputter to life but, eventually, from inside, two long rods appeared. Both of them were hooked with a tiny sharp point. At the same time, they inserted themselves into the socket markings and traced along them, spinning in a circle as they did. Finally, when they had completed their journey, they snapped back and disappeared back into the device. The door trembled open, the four pieces shakingly inserting into the walls.

I pressed my back to the wall and waited for the sound of movement. Apart from the rhythmic gargling of the fat creatures, the ship was quiet. I leaned, looking into the room. It was clean and plain. There was nothing remarkable about it as it was a cargo bay. Metal boxes covered every wall and were piled up to the ceiling, tied into place. A scattered few lay across the floor, their latches open. Slowly, I wandered in, looking around to see if anything lurked in the shadows. The lights blinked for a split second, throwing the room into darkness. The lights clicked by on and the room was bathed in light. I found myself holding one of the metal boxes, threatening to use it against the empty room like a club.

I dropped the box to the floor and the lid flew open. Inside, there was a rifle. It looked like an orkish gun yet it was thin, mechanical and wasn't covered in teeth. Imprinted into the side was the dreaded double-headed eagle. It was an imperium weapon. Lay alongside the rifle were magazines, all filled with slender cylinders. They didn't look like bullets. On the lid, was a poster. A detailed diagram of the weapon I was holding, every piece of the weapon individually labeled and with directions of where in the weapon it goes. A perfect diagram of how it all worked. It was a weapon that worked.

I grabbed six magazines in my hand and placed them into my pouch. Fishing one out, I put it into the bottom of the rifle. I aimed it steadily, feeling the way it was weighted and moves. I placed my foot onto the metal box and kicked it towards the end of the roof. Following it carefully with the sights, I squeezed the trigger, letting off a single round. The lid snapped, baring a hole as it skidded faster, smacking into the wall. A casing flew through the air and landed on the floor. I backed away, my ears ringing from the sound. I shook my head, trying to make my ears return to normal. The ringing continued until it quietened, halving the sound until it was practically nothing. I let out a long breath, clutching the rifle to me.

I walked out into the hall again, the door rumbling shut behind me with a heavy bang. I leaned my back against the door, seeing the fat larvae flying around the room, singing their droning gasps. One sat upon a distant metal chair, tapping it's fat toes dainty against the skull of the long-dead human. Placing the rifle butt carefully onto my shoulder, I aimed, placing the body of the fat larvae on the tip of my sight. Slowly, I let out a breath and, as it filtered through the air, I squeezed the trigger. A shot rang out, sending the larvae flying through the air. It smacked a far wall, spraying blood across the walls. For a moment, it's wings flapped and it's fat feet looked as if it was going to push against the wall and fly again. It tried and landed on the floor, shutting it's one eye.

Another flew against a nearby wall, gripping it with its fat fingers as it continued its rasping prayer. I aimed upwards, the barrel only inches away from its head. I squeezed the trigger and a crack sounded, a hole appearing in its head. It fell to the floor next to me, smacking with a crunch.

The others flew at their heights in the ceiling, I aimed upwards and, solemnly, swayed the barrel, imagining squeezed the trigger and seeing if I could take them all down. On my third sway, I squeezed the trigger and led loose a hail of bullets. Thudding into the fat larvae, their rasping song died and they fell to the floor. The barrel of my gun smoked as they cracked to the tiled floor with a heavy, rhythmic crunch. Blood pooled into the middle of the great hall. Pausing, I looked over what I did. I felt an odd sense of pride, lifting a weight from my shoulders.

My feeling was soon shattered by a loud scream from the earlier bunk room. Quickly, I hugged the wall nearest to the entrance, wondering what creature lay in the other room. I looked around the hall, looking at a door on the far side of the room. It would force me to sprint in front of whatever was in the other room. The bellow came again and I froze. Slowly, I breathed out and turned, holding the rifle at my hip. The armored, disease-ridden human stood in the bunk room, ready to charge. His chest plate was corroded, yellow and brown. Skulls littered his armor like they were bolts keeping it together and, from his belt, hung a dirtied piece of parchment, smudged and rotting itself. The large scroll looked like diseased pulp, broken and crinkled. It creased and fell apart at the edges.

Frozen at the sight of each other, we both paused. As he froze, skin from his face hung down like pieces of a tattered flag, his skull peeking out through decaying parts of his flesh. A single maggot pushed out of a piece of muscle tissue that clung to his jaw. I swallowed my fear and tried to aim for his head. We stared at each other. His eyes were broken, large scars and bubbles formed across the milky scape. Slowly, I brought the rifle up to my shoulder, aiming down the sights. The only sound in the room was the slow movement of the rifle as I pressed it against my shoulder. I placed his head on top of the sight.

I didn't know what to do, I felt rage bubble into my veins as I waited for something to tell me to shoot. He didn't run at me, he just waited there like a statue. I wanted him to charge at me, so I could fill his head with bullets. The diseased human stood there, his face bubbling with a strange contempt. Bellowing, he brought his foot down, shaking the floor. I dug the rifle further into my shoulder, squeezing one eye closed as I stared him down. I shook the rifle at me, trying to tell him to back away, to leave me alone. I stepped forward and shook it again, acting as if the rifle was my shield. I stood on the ramp between the hall and the bunk room, bringing the rifle butt back to my shoulder, placing his head between my iron sight again. The diseased man still stood still, staring at me with his white eyes.

Then he smirked. His skin cracked as his visible muscles tense, raising his tattered lips to the smug expression. He brought a foot forward, crushing the front of the ramp under his heavy tread. I stumbled backward, finding my footing back onto the gridded catwalk of the hall. The rotting creature's muscles tensed again, raising his smirk to a smile. He walked onto the ramp, taking a long stride towards me. I backed up again, feeling my foot press against the first step downwards to the tiled floor. The creature took another stride forward and I took one backward. Eventually, after what felt like a century, he stood on the gridded catwalk and I cowered on the tiled floor, still aiming at his head. His lips started to move and he started to blather in a language I couldn't understand. He gestured with a corroded metal glove to the ceiling and then to me, shouting louder as he gestured towards me with a pointed finger. I took a step back as he shouted further. The creature pointed, shouting with every count, at the dead fat larvae scattered around the room and then back to me. On end, he talked further, rambling on with nonsense I couldn't understand. Taking the gridded walkway, he wandered around the room, talking sparingly as he investigated almost every piece of the room. As he spun chairs, looked at broken screens and analyzed skeletons, I circled around on the tiled floor, trying to stay away from him. Eventually, he turned back to me and, with a short jump, smacked down onto the tiled floor. The tiles cracked beneath his steel tread.

Quickly, I moved back away from him, hoping to get away. He stepped forward, grabbing the parchment by his waist. He ripped it off, holding the parchment in his one hand. Staring, I waited to see what he would do, a mixture of fear and curiosity pumped into my veins. Slowly, he pulled a skull from his chest and placed it in the middle of the paper. With his free hand, he folded one-half over the skull and then the other half. Then, grabbing the two sides together, he held it towards me. He had made a flail. He swung it around in his hand, spinning it like a propeller. He walked towards me, grinning as his face peeled away. I moved away and stumbled, my side smacking against the catwalk.

A ghoulish laugh escaped his lips, shaking my ear drums. I bellowed loudly at him and pulled back on the trigger, letting hail a group of bullets before my weapon clicked uselessly. They shredded his parchment, crushing the skull inside as others shredded his head, peeling back large chunks of his face, making them drop to the floor like skinned snakes. Quickly, I grabbed the rifle and shook it, pulling on the magazine, trying to get it out. Eventually, as my fingers scrambled around the gun, I found a button. My thumb pressed it quickly and the magazine dropped to the floor. The diseased creature stared at his ruined parchment as his face peeled away from his skull. From my belt, I slotted in another magazine. I held it upwards, seeing him drop his parchment as he saw him. Slowly, with a steady rise, I got up from my fallen position, rising to look at him.

I held the gun to his head and, slowly taking the stairs up to the catwalk, squeezed the trigger again. Bullets flew through the air, slamming into his meaty head until the rifle clicked. They shredded through his face, slicing away heavy chunks from his face. Bullets collided through his eyes, cracking the skull beneath as the milky orbs were shredded into bits, imploding from the impact. Crimson ran down his face, washing maggots from his rotting flesh. The echoes of gunfire soon ceased and I stood on the catwalk, staring at him. His face was shredded, his tattered skin lay with chunks of muscle on the floor like gutted corpses. His eyes bled. He held his arms out in front of him as he took steps towards me. He muttered something under his breath as he stood on the stairs. Slowly, I pressed the release button on the side of the rifle, dragging the magazine out inch by inch. Holding it in my hands, I let out a breath. His head snapped to me and he took long steps towards me. Quickly, I launched the magazine across the

room. It smacked against a wall and he turned slowly to look. Slowly, he took long lumbering steps over to where I had thrown the magazine. I held my head against the wall, feeling the cold metal soothe my fears. Gradually, I looked over at the nearby wall, seeing the nearby door.

Cautiously, I walked over towards it, careful not to scrape against the gridded floor. Slowly, I made my way over towards the door. I scratched the button with my nail, hoping that when I pushed it the door wouldn't spark or make a sound. Letting out a hushed breath, I pushed the button down into place and paused for a moment, listening to the slow rumbling of the diseased creature behind me. The door smoothly opened with a low hiss. As I took a step into the door, I turned to look at the diseased thing. It solitarily stood near the entrance to the bunk room, holding an arm out as he took a slow step forward.

Slowly, I backed into the room, aiming towards the armored creature until the doors hissed shut. I spun on my heels, turning to face the new room. In front of me, surrounded by a wooden desk, sat a skeleton. The bones lay in a chair covered in once-soft fur, yet the arms and legs were coated in a shining gold. The jaw hung open as a rolled cylinder stuck from his teeth, cut in two by its teeth. It's clothes, unlike the others, remained on the body, untouched by whatever roamed around. Body armor covered every inch of the skeleton except for the head which was strangely bare. Along the chest, the long dead person had painted something; a single skull. A phrase surrounded it, written in a strange way that made the letters seem as if they were grown from flowers, yet I couldn't read it. The room was bare except for the desk and the chair, the walls, the floors and the ceiling were simply metal. Grabbing a magazine from my belt, I slotted it into my rifle.

Slowly, I circled the desk, keeping the rifle up. The desk was covered in an array of buttons, levers, and switches. All of them covered in words I couldn't understand, only a few buttons were labeled with simple images. One, the closest to me, was labeled with a small picture; a rat.

With an outstretched finger, I pushed down on the button. The floor quaked for a moment, parts of the metal filtered away, sliding into parts of the floor. Darkness soon turned into a singular gray metal that shuddered up from the floors. As I stared, glass came into view, built into the strange box. Inside was nothing but darkness. Soon, lights flickered on inside. Thousands of rats were inside, crawling over each other and attacking each other like animals. Blood streaked across the floor, some of it stained brown, some red. Their claws dug into each other's flesh as others grabbed at their entrails, stuffing it into their mouths as they screamed without a sound behind the glass. On the other side of the box, the glass was covered in the red stains, like they had painted a wall red with blood. I leaned against the chair, staring with squinted eyes as it started in front of me. Looking around the box, I saw hundreds of young rats and their mothers packed into the corners, hiding from the onslaught in the middle. Some of the young bit each other, nibbling at paws. Soon, rats dragged themselves back to the mothers and the young, dragging along a half destroyed carcass. The mothers and young threw themselves at the carcass, devouring it within a matter of seconds. Packed into the far corners were picked clean skeletons and, covering the floor of the enclosure, bone dust was flicked up like snow.

A heavy thud came from the door. Quickly, I looked up, aiming my rifle at the door. A familiar bellow came from behind it. Carefully, I circled around the rat enclosure, using it as cover. Pressing my back up against the metal side of the box, I aimed around it. Letting loose a breath, I thought for a moment. I ran to the wall, pressing my back to it. With a steady foot, I put it on top of the box, feeling if I could jump on it. As I put my leg near it, rats thudded at the glass, gnawing. One threw itself, trying to get at my leg. Filling my lungs with air, I smacked the door controls with a heavy fist and, as I pulled my leg up onto the box, I let loose a round. As I mounted the box, the door opened with a hiss, the glass shattered and the thud of a thousand rats hitting the floor echoed out. I crouched and turning, aiming down at the diseased creature.

The rats thundered at him, jumping to grab onto his armor. The rats clung to his legs, crawling up them, as ones using them as ladders, quickly trying to climb to his face. The creature, panicking, tried to thrown the rats off of him, shaking his hands over him. Rats clung to his fingers, riding his hands to his face. Flying from his fingers, they latched onto his face, clawing at it with their teeth. The creature fell as his steady feet fell underneath him. Soon, his orange armor turned black as the rats covered him, rampaging at his exposed flesh. They gnawed at his muscle and skin, tearing out pieces of his teeth. The creature tried to scream but rats filled his mouth, which soon gnawed at the insides of his gullet. His screams were muffled as they gnawed at his flesh. The door slowly closed with a hiss and his screams and the rats gnawing were silenced.

With a sigh, I jumped down from the box and went back to the desk. Another button held a symbol; another barrage of missiles. Stuck between the rats and a wall, I thought about pushing it for a moment. Scratching my finger against it, I looked up at the gray box. Shifting my finger over towards the rat button, I forced it down and the empty box started to lower. I rushed at the box, landing on top of it. Submerged in darkness, the floor closed above me, leaving me in the pitch black.

I slid off of the box, feeling my feet down on the cold metal. Aiming the rifle, I took a shot straight ahead. The room lit up for a split second and I saw the mass expanse of nothing, crates and missiles lay fixed to the floors. I walked for a few paces, feeling the darkness creak its stiff fingers around my eyes. I let off another shot, I was standing next to a pile of wooden crates. Pressing my hand through the darkness, I felt for a latch. Slowly, my hand fell around one and, slowly, I pulled out the wooden crate. Wood crash together with a sharp snap as I dropped the crate to the floor. Pressing my foot around the darkness, I felt the crate and knelt down next to it. Feeling my fingers around the edge of the lid, I dug in and flipped the lid open. Carefully, I edged my hand over the top and I felt around the box. My hand grasped a small metal box with a hinge. I brought it close to my face and undid the top. A spark spun onto my finger but soon a flame appeared, burning brightly. I stared at the box, it was a small rectangle that bore, in black, the double-headed eagle. The light was poor but I could see. The box was filled with them, a booklet of paper detailed them with carefully drawn designs. Flicking the light off, I stuffed the fire-box into my belt. I broke the lid off, breaking it into quarters and then broke the quarters at the top to make them sharp. With the paper, I crushed it into a ball and poked it through one of the quarters of wood. Pulling the fire-box out of my belt, I flicked on the flame and soon, the paper burned brightly.

I could finally see the cargo hold. It was sliced in half. A ship blocked the far wall, caving the cargo hold in on itself. The new ship was strange, it didn't have rugged metal. It was blue and, from a fin that stretched out into the cargo hold, had wings like a bat. The orange flesh stretched out, tattered into ribbons. The ship had dug deep into the cargo hold, its entire side embedded. For a moment, I thought about if I wanted to go inside.

As the flames on the stick flickered, I decided that it was better if I got inside the ship. Quickly, I ran over, carrying both the lit wood and the rifle. Running over the bat wing-like sale, I felt the flesh beneath me. It was like soft clothing. I mounted the wing and rushed to the main part of the ship as the flame flickered, disappearing into the wood before dying in my hands. As I reached the end of the wing, I found a door built inside. A strange mechanical device lay beside it and, fearful of touching it, I gripped my palm to my rifle. I aimed at the door, letting out a short breath. Squeezed the trigger, I let fly three rounds that pierced the door. They snapped with a heavy bang inside as the door hissed, spraying steam forward. The door slowly opened as lights beamed on within, lighting me with a calming blue color. Slowly, I took steps inside the alien ship and pulled the door closed on the cargo hold. Looking around, I tried to find my bearings and decided to wander to the left side, hoping to find a way back to my, hopefully, now-growing squadron.

The ship was curved and small, the walls were thin and slender-like. It made me feel giant yet crushed at the same time. Wandering through the ship, I found an open doorway and took a step inside The walls of the short hall were made of a yellowing bone, that held symbols inside. Twirling, yet curved signs littered the walls, filling it almost to the edges. Staring, I looked at all of them, they weren't pieces of writing. Cautiously, I pushed out a finger and felt the engraving. It was smooth, almost like it was simply there naturally. A dim light echoed from deep within the engraving and the light limped to all the other markings, spreading the dim blue to all the engravings. For a moment, the lights flickered, yet they soon grew in strength until they light up the room for a strange dim glow.

As the light fell upon me, strange whispers came from inside the stones. Filtering into my brain, images danced along my mind, filled by these whispers. The soft whispers, almost like music, filled my mind with playful images. I felt relaxed, at peace, as my thoughts drifted away, staring at the blue imagery that clouded my mind. Leaning against the wall, I sat on the floor, feeling the warmth enter my mind playfully. As they tickled along my brain, making the aching creases into smooth, meditative slopes, pleas and thoughts rushed into my mind. Still trapped in the sense of joy, I listened to the pleas of the creatures apathetically as my mind further allowed the meditative state to wash over it. The whispers threw images at me, telling me about the press of the warp, how it made the whispers feel scared and alone. A strange sensation washed over me as they described their fear; my mind understood the emotion, it was a strange, paralyzing fear like an icy blade, yet my body and my mind were at peace, feeling a peaceful disconnect from it all. Their fears spoke to me further; my nerves feeling the rushing pulse, the heartbeat quickened to a single tone, and imaginary shackles that grasped around my wrists as the fear was a weight, holding me to the ground. Yet, my mind was weightless and my body was of trivial matters. The room disappeared from my mind as it no longer mattered, the soothing nature filled me, blinding my eyes from the reality around me. The whispers spoke of the fear again; my body felt flashes of shock and anguish, fear that sat quietly on the mind, fear that eroded away energy as everything turned helpless. Yet, in my state, it made me want to laugh, despite the full understanding of their pain and terror. My thoughts were gone as I was too tranquil to need them, my body was numb as I didn't need to feel, I was at peace yet the whispers thundered in my brain, discussing their fears with me. Slowly, I filtered air through my nose, feeling it graciously fill my lungs. The whispers spoke of emotional walls closing in, thoughts trapped in the dark, a yearning for the eternal darkness to end, yet the dim blue light filled my brain with a serene and comfortable feeling. The whispers spoke of something beyond reality; a place where insanity was a blessing as you no longer tried to understand what was around you, a place where endless torture was the first step into the torment it would provide, a place where creatures of impossible geometry and immeasurable cruelty could practice their darkest fantasies without judgement, a place that was like the mass I walked on now. A strange abomination of every fear and nightmare known through the universe and beyond, forced into a single place.

The whispers froze for a moment, leaving me a chance to mull over the idea of the place. I knew what they were talking about. Then the whispers came again and, this time, spoke of a god shrouded in a purple light. A god born at the same time of an enormous tear in spacetime, that spans thousands upon thousands of stars and swallows anything that dares comes near. A tear where every unspeakable god and daemon waited, doing whatever their minds thought and doing it without consequence. The whispers seem to shudder, yet returned back to their feared god. Slowly, they described the god to me. A god that does unspeakable things. Slowly, I wondered further. The whispers parted, making room as my thoughts thundered through their fancy imagery and dim lighting within my mind. A question I asked was soon answered by the gods. As the whispers answered, I soon knew the answer; the whispers wanted a release for their souls, to be able to get away from the feared god. They didn't want to be trapped within the ship, seeing as the feared one could come back. I asked what I could do, I couldn't carry the entire corridor with me. Slowly, the numbness of my body disappeared, rolling out of my muscles like rolling paper. My nerves flickered back to life as my legs stood up on their own, my mind still awash with the whispers. They begged me to do something, release them before a champion of their feared god would find them and release them to it. Swinging my rifle lazily as I stood, shaking my head, holding it in one hand. The whispers begged me to pull the trigger, destroy the bones as to release their souls in the wild. They discussed finding companions and getting away, being able to go home with them, be released by them. They didn't wish to be slaves, to be captured by the destructive god.

I let out a breath and aimed around the bone, feeling the tranquility filter out of my brain. The smooth, peaceful parts of my brain turned back to aching creases. The meditative sections turned back into hate-filled lumps that grew against my skull. Slowly, I looked for cracks, pieces broken off in the bony walls. As none was there, I hoped I could release them without too much pain. I aimed at a section of the wall and squeezed the trigger. A round cracked against the bone, digging in deep. Web-like fractures appeared across the bone, cracking deep along the wall like broken glass. Slowly, I shifted my aim over to another section of the wall, firing again. A web of fractures appeared, cracking along the wall. The fractures met with the others and pieces fell from the walls, falling to the floor as the dim blue lights faded from the pieces. The bone fell away to reveal a sterile blue metal underneath. I spun on my heels carefully and aimed at the other walls, squeezing the trigger before I fully turned. Two rounds smacked into the bones, crushing the insides as the web of fractures quickly appeared. Segments fell out, revealing the same sterile blue. Taking my rifle carefully, I used to the butt to smack the remaining bones off of the metal. Soon, all the pieces were on the floor being crushed beneath my heavy feet. I wandered over to the end of the hall. As I was about to pass through the door, a whisper entered the back of my mind quickly before dying away. A single idea filled my brain, a soothing warmth followed with it. It was like wearing a mental fur coat. The idea of thanks polluted my mind for a moment before dying away into nothing.

Slowly, I wandered to the other room. It was a small room, simply with two doors on either side. One with a crushed ship against it, a single porthole coated in a strange brown. The other door opened to a dimly lit ship. It was massive, stretching out as a giant hall. The large hall looked like it was painted to be as black as space, the darkness only lighted by the dim lights and the glint off of some items inside. Heavy yet long columns stretched to the ceiling, attaching themselves to supports that created a domed aisle at the ceiling, sliced into curved rectangles by curled metal. Strangely, it had an air of warmth, despite looking cold and distant. Pressing against the door, I cracked it open, feeling the hiss as the pressure popped inside the black ship. The door finally opened and I stood by the side of a large column. A dark as night skull stared at me with hollow eyes. Looking around, I could see the glint off of every column of the underside of the eye sockets. A strange symbol had been built into every piece of column, a skull surrounded in a large rectangle block. Above it, small compared to the massive skull was the dreaded eagle again. A small spark burned in my brain and I wanted to smash the symbol but I abstained and held my rifle close instead.

I walked out onto the marble, turning for a moment to see the damage the strange ship had done. Black marble stuck out above and below the ship like teeth that had been knocked out from the inside out. I wondered what it had done to deserve this. My eyes adjusted to the dim light and, all again, I saw a similar sight. Control panels littered the walls, chairs filled with skeletons, yet, something different, at every control panel was a screen and weapon system. From the buttons and the strange manner they were placed, my mind soon created an outer image of the ship. A black ship bristling with hidden weapons and cameras. My mind, freeing itself from reality, thought of the technology it could have, as my brain attempted to attach reality by using memories of seen human equipment.

I thought of a poor civilian human being seen with something that the human government didn't like, probably something that said: "I like Orks". I smiled for a moment, imagining the human government destroying an entire planet, all because one person had something that said; "I like Orks". For some reason, I started chuckling to myself, imagining the worldwide devastation as their missiles chewed up landscapes and hills, destroying entire towns and ways of life; all because one person liked Orks. I laughed silently, trying to stifle it, as I imagined the poor human trying to run away from the destruction. I grabbed the side of a console and laughed louder and louder as I imagined the edge of an explosive radius catching him, sending him to an early death as half of him was cooked from the inside out. All because he liked Orks.

I laughed and laughed again, cheering forgetting where I was for a few seconds as I kept imagining the scenario over and over again. Soon, I shook off the laughter, letting it run down into giggles and eventually to silence. For a short moment, I rested against the control panel, feeling a wash of joy run over me. Looking around the large marble room, seeing the many metal structures hold up the domed roof, I finally noticed a desk to the far left of the room. It was held aloft by marble steps and, from the grandness of the material, was meant to house a respectable individual. Instead, it housed a skeleton, lying on the marble floor. Its jaw was missing, cracks in the skull made me imagine it was ripped off.

Slowly, I walked over towards it, clutching my weapon behind me. Mounting the large black stairs, I saw a door behind us. It was a grand door, bearing a strange device by it. It looked to be taken from the symbol on every column. I imagined you would have to press against it with the symbol and the door would open. The skeleton was clothed in a strange way. He wore a darkened cloak, a book attached to his belt and next to it, the scabbard of a sword. A small amount of body armor covered his chest yet the rest seemed cosmetic. His clothing bore many miniature golden skulls, using them as pins for his cloaks and decorations on the body armor. His cloak was folded around, revealing a secret pocket. I dug my fingers into it, feeling a strange metal symbol. Pulling it forth, I recognized it. The symbol that was on all the columns was now in my hands.

I went over to the door and pressed the symbol against the device. For a moment, the door shuddered, as if it wondered if to accept the piece of metal. The door slowly rumbled open, peeling away its pieces until it was open to another room. Stashing the symbol in my belt, I wandered through the doorway, letting it close behind me.

The walls of the short room were peeling, a strange paint flaked away. Looking down at the chips, I saw burst air bubbles on the back. Skeletons covered the nearby wall, I turned to the door and noticed trails of claw marks. White patterns of stress and digging nails. Looking over at the skeletons, seeing their ragged clothes and their fingertips, the ends of which were slightly crushed, I thought to myself, breathing in slightly. Soon, I felt a smack to my mind. A heavy feeling of the walls spinning around me, the blackened walls spun like they were being shot through space. My chest thumped with pain as my heart blasted against my ribcage and my fingers twitched against the gun, my fingers rushing into the foregrip. Quickly, I turned to the door and, digging the symbol out of my belt, I slammed it down on the device. The door opened and I ran back through it, collapsing onto the stairs. The walls still spun but they slowed every rotating as my heart slowly sank back to normal speeds and my vision turned to a dark place. I shook my head, trying to wash away the darkness. For a long time, I sat on the stairs, breathing heavy oxygen into my lungs and washing away the sick feeling that crept up my throat.

I collapsed against the stairs and thought about what the humans had done here. Their support of life, their air systems, they shut them down in different rooms to save themselves. To power the hall's for however many years, yet they all died on impact as they were crushed into the space hulk. Hundreds, maybe a thousand years later and it is easy to see how long the system remained on in the hall. I wanted to start laughing again but my lungs creased in pain as a small chuckle escaped my throat. The humans killed each other, simply to have precious air for a little while longer. The burning sensation started to slip away and I thought of how I was going to escape. Taking a deep breath, I tried to remember how long the room was. I thought about running through it, hoping that I could reach another ship that had crashed before I succumbed to whatever was leaking within the other rooms.

I got onto my feet and walked over towards the door. Shakily, I held out the symbol and pressed it to the device. Swallowing a large gulp of air, the door rushed open. As the skeletons stared down at the floor, I ran, bolting around the short room. Taking a sharp right, another door stood in my way. My lungs burned lightly as I pushed the symbol onto the device and the door rumbled open. Hundreds of bunks lined by walls of this small hall, a large table and chairs in the middle. The packeted food looking like it could feed an army of a thousand. Rushing past them, carrying my rifle and symbol, I felt my lungs burn like a match was slowly scorching the flesh. My foot banged against one of the chairs as I rocketed past and I tumbled over, crashing to the floor. My lungs ached but I kept the air in my lungs. Quickly, I scrambled to my feet and start running again, sprinting faster as my lungs filled with psychological fog and smoke. Another door and I pushed the symbol into it. The door splintered into four pieces, jamming halfway through, leaving a small hole. The four pieces shuddered as they tried to open. Carefully, I pushed through the hole, feeling the metal shudder against my leg caused my mind to flicker with images of the door slamming on one of my legs. Shaking my head, I slipped through the hole and ran some more. Another long hall, like at the beginning, a single door at the end. My lungs burned like they had been turned to hot iron. I hoped a ship had crashed into next room and it pumped out air.

As I thundered down the marble, hearing my feet echo against the blackened marble, I saw how much alike it was to the first one on the other side. The only thing missing was the large desk.I imagine how this ship must be full of thousands of small rooms, ones all inter-connected to bunk rooms, communication rooms and how they all worked in unison on their mission. My lungs burned as I imagined ghosts of the bustling humans, going around their work. I looked over my shoulder as my lungs licked fire against my body. Hundreds of skeletons mounted by the door and deep nail cuts, sword slashes and bullet wounds covered the metal door. A singular chair lay by it, ripped away from its base on the floor. I imagined the group of humans it must have taken to throw that at the metal door and, yet, to no avail. As I passed by one of the last terminals, I noticed how it lacked a chair. For a moment, my mind lit up with ideas about what happened in this room and possibly hundreds like it across the ship but my body slammed me back into reality as I hit the wall with my shoulder. I slammed the symbol into the device, my vision blurring as the door shuddered open. Quickly, I ducked in and looked around, my lungs banging against my ribs for fresh oxygen.

Looking across the room, there was only a single other door and a single bed where a skeleton lay, tangled in its bed sheet. Quickly, I turned, there were no claw marks against the door. I opened my mouth and started gasping for air, letting it all in. The air was breathable in here. Quickly, I gulped it down, letting it fill my lungs. The burning slowly subsided, washed away by my gasps for air. I sat down on the bed, feeling my lungs fill with the air around me. The skeleton wore strange clothes, it was a long black robe. I wonder if all humans went to sleep like this. I noticed a small piece of paper sticking out of the pocket and taking it, I looked over it. It was a picture. Behind them was a lovely array of flowers, a wonderful garden and, beyond them, a white, sandy beach with crystal blue water and, above it, a crystal blue sky. The sun rose on the water. Two men held each other, smiling towards me. One wore the black robe that the skeleton did, the other human wore a darkened cloak and body armor. The body armor was covered in decorative skulls, all painted gold. Golden skulls even pinned his cloak to his chest. On his belt, a heavy book was clipped to it, along with a scabbard, the hilt of a sword sticking out of it. Turning the picture over, the back was scrawled with words I couldn't read. For a moment, I pondered over the relationship they had. I thought what they could have been if they were alive. Lovers? Looking at the picture, the one in the robes seemed too young and the sword-wielder was too old. They were father and son. Both employed upon the same ship. I filled my lungs with air and slotted the photo back into his pocket.

I stood up and stood by the door. Looking over at the skeleton, I wondered if there was even air on the other side. Quickly, I swallowed as much air as I could. Placing the symbol against the device, the door opened to another bunk room. A large machine skewered through the middle. A blackened slope with an exploded side gaping open. Quickly, I ran through it and I opened my mouth, sucking in air. I thought, for a moment, realizing that the air would have leaked out into the bunk room and tried to shut my jaw. Yet, I was fine, there was air. I wondered for a moment about the other ship, turning to see the destroyed bunk room. Shrugging, I looked to see the room I was in.

The room was tiny, a simple cage. Looking out, I saw thousands of other cages. All filled with skeletons, most of them wore rags. Simple peasant clothes, similar to mine yet humans usually never wore ork clothes. Looking over, I looked at the skeleton in my cage. It lay on its metal bunk. Its skull was swollen, almost like a spot ready to be popped. Tapping the skull with my finger, I walked over to the bars and rattled them with my hand. They wouldn't budge. I looked at the walls nearby, there was no symbol device. Walking out of the cell and back into the bunk room, I went over to the wall. Putting my rifle on the floor, I slid it under the skewered ship, letting it smack into a bunk bed. Throwing the symbol, it landed on top of the gun with a slap. I got onto my stomach and crawled along the floor, reaching the other side quickly. I grabbed the symbol and rifle, making a quick dash over to the door. I attached the symbol to the device and the door slid open. A small connecting hall, yet on either side were two doors. Attaching the symbol to the left door, it shuddered open and it opened to nothing. The other side of the blackened ship was at the end of a large ship and was burned to chunks by its ancient thrusters.

As I looked down, I saw a deep pit. Yet, at the bottom and through a window, a light flickered and I could see green shapes moving around. A green shape stepped in a red stain. It was the medical bay. Breathing in, I jumped. For a moment, I felt weightless, my blood rushed to my head and I couldn't tell down from up. Yet, immediately, the feeling disappeared as gravity soon grabbed me and I plummeted downwards. I felt no friction and it was just a drop, yet it felt forever. I smacked into the window and plummeted through it, with only a split second rest. Crashing to the floor, an Ork turned to me.

"Who da zogg are ya, trespassa?" One of them quizzed me as I got up from my bed of broken glass.

"mi name iz Mugrot an meeb ab spent lotsa time tryin' ter find ya gitz again. Wanna be bug slayaz?"


End file.
